With traditional amateur film photography, the process often ends after a film roll has been developed and returned to the photographer. The photographer obtains the developed photographs in an envelope and reviews the photographs with friends and family. Some energetic amateur photographers select their favorite photographs and place those photographs into a photo album. However, most amateur photographs simply end up in a shoebox at the back of the closet. Occasionally, the shoebox is retrieved such that friends and family may view the photographs.
With the advent of digital photography, the possibility for organizing and publishing amateur photographs has greatly increased. Amateur photographs can be published on the world-wide web (WWW) to allow anyone on the Internet to view the photographs. Image manipulation programs can be used to manipulate digital photographs in order to correct flaws, modify colors, etc. However, the potential of amateur digital photography largely remains unrealized. Most digital photographs are just stashed away on hard disk drives or burned onto Compact Disc Read-Only Memories (CD-ROMs) and only occasionally viewed. A few digital photographs are emailed to friends and family.
To better realize the great potential of amateur digital photography, it is clear that better tools are needed for amateur digital photography enthusiasts. These tools should be highly intuitive yet provide powerful features for the acquisition, organization, manipulation, and publication of digital images.